The Mind Of OverlordTomala
Gaming

Seasons Beatings

It’s December! Time to wreck the halls and enjoy some holiday themed games and mods. DOOM was always a special game that I remember from this time of year when I was a kid. It originally released on the 10th of December all the way back in 1993, when a little Overlord would eventually lay their hands on the original Shareware disc and would continue to play DOOM in one form or another for decades to come!

I did a quick search for Christmas themed wads for DOOM, and the first thing my eyes landed on was 12 Days of Doommas. A Megawad packed with 12 insane levels that pack multiple decked out demons into crammed spaces where you will probably die… a lot. The Imps wear Santa Hats, the Cacodemons and Pain Elementals take on the form of tree ornaments, and you share your Christmas cheer by beating against demons with a candy cane when you run out of ammo. Truly a holiday miracle!… probably.

Some of these visuals could make for some nice retro inspired Christmas cards to send around! 😛 Unfortunately I don’t know many people that would appreciate the demonic visuals.

Gaming

Another Game Off The List

It finally happened. I reached the end of Horizon Zero Dawn! It was a fun journey with a story as rich as the games graphics. I’m glad Sony made this available for PC players. I’m going to give this a glowing recommendation when I’m capable of not being sleepy. Next time I play, it’ll be for NG+. Until then, the Forbidden West is next on the Horizon.

Gaming

Riders High: Palworld

Went paling around tonight to kick off the weekend! This was probably our most crashiest playthrough, but after the first few crashes things seemed to stabilize. We caught a few more pals, killed some for leather… and as a means of survival. Will have to science out why the crashes occur. There was an update that may have made a mod or two unstable.

All in an Overlord's day / Open Threads

Late Night Open Thread

Too tired to write anything of note. It’s been an exhausting last couple of days, but after tomorrow I can get some proper rest. I might have to treat myself to some more Ruby Sunrise. 🙂 That recipe was so good that I wouldn’t mind treating myself to it again! Maybe I’ll even have time to make some Blue Light Pudding for dessert!

Open Thread!

Gaming

Some Like It Hot

Yesterday Ex-Zodiac received an update that introduces their 10th level: Caldera! I did two runs in it but haven’t found the hidden data chip. This is definitely a harder world, and it will take some practice to conquer. I might practice on my Steam Deck during lunch tomorrow if I don’t get sucked into what may or may not be one of the metroidvanias I need to finish. :v

Gaming

In The Palm of Their Hand

Don’t have much to write about tonight. I poured today’s angst into the Hydra boss battle in 9 Years of Shadows. Took me awhile to time it right, each time I died I always lasted a little bit longer. Though there were a couple of times where I would be near the end of the boss battle and still manage to choke. I almost rage quit, but I rampaged until I achieved what I came for, despite flubbing up a few times during battle. I would post the video, but it’s a bit long-ish and I don’t feel like adding it to my YouTube channel.

Gaming

9 Years of Shadows: First Impressions

Europa: I have to admit, this castle is impressive.I know… I have multiple metroidvanias in my never ending collection of entertainment that I meed to finish. But after watching a friend play this one evening I KNEW I had to give it a go! The game is called “9 Years Of Shadows”. A tale about a land and its people who are cursed into shadow. You play as a young woman named Europa, who befriends a ghostly teddy bear and proceeds to kick all kinds of ass throughout the castle holding three elements you have to find in order to dispel the curse and return the land to all of its colorful glory… or something.

Eurropa swimming underwater in her siren form. Granted by a relic and the Poseidon Armor.
Under The Sea!

As you play through the game, you find different relics and armors that will help you move about the castle a bit easier. So far I’ve only unlocked The Grace of Zeus and the Poseidon Armor. Then I found a relic that could be used with the latter armor I found that allows me to assume a siren form, granting me the ability to swim about the underwater mazes. You can also use the armor to swim up waterfalls!

Europa and her ghostly teddy bear friend taking the elevator.My adventure started off a bit rocky. I played on my desktop and for whatever reason the camera refused to follow Europa. To make sure I wasn’t missing anything I launched the game on my Steam Deck where everything worked just fine. Then after quitting I started it again on my desktop and everything was peachy. I’m not sure if it had something to do with my screen resolution, or that I had a high frame rate. At a glance I had read that this game does have some bugs. Hopefully I don’t have to run into anymore of them. My friend who is much further into it hasn’t run into any issues with it yet, so fingers crossed.

Europa and her ghost bud being greeted by the spirit off a young woman.Despite some off the issues I mentioned above I really like the game so far. The visuals have a retro-ish touch to them, the music is beautiful, and the cutscenes are not only well done, but do a good job of telling the overall story. So far I’m impressed with what I’ve seen!

Gaming

Modding Palworld!

It was inevitable, but we broke into modding territory in Palworld. We’ve mostly done some tweaking to make some off the survival mechanics less annoying. Items no longer need to be repaired after long use, carry weight is no longer a problem… and off course some model/clothing replacements here and there.

We did have to remove a couple of mods that caused the game to crash directly to desktop, but after we deleted a couple mods it was smooth sailing for the rest of the night. Out of all the mods we looked through I really enjoy Photo Mode. I kept asking myself why this game didn’t have one, given that it’s an Unreal Engine game. Then when we explored the terrain a little deeper I understood why.

We found caves that lead to the outside of the world, trees floating where they shouldn’t and other atrocities beyond the 4th wall. It’s moments like those that reminded us that this is still an Early Access title. Even with the glitches we are still having fun though!

Food/Drink

Taking Cooking To New Horizons

It’s been awhile since I’ve made a cooking post, hasn’t it? Last spring I pre-ordered the Official Horizon Cookbook as a nice birthday present to myself, and now I finally broke it out and made a nice breakfast with it! They have a recipe in the book called Ruby Sunrise, which is basically a Shakashuka recipe.

Poached eggs in a tomato sauce with onions, bell peppers and warm seasonings. This particular recipe called for anchovy paste, which to me just tastes like salt. Instead I swapped out for a chipotle paste I have on hand. Not only does it have enough salt, it also gave it a smoky taste that paired well with the paprika.

To make it a little more filling I made some quinoa, and served the tomatoey goodness atop a bed of it with some sourdough slices on the side. The best part was that I made enough leftovers for tomorrow! I might have to make this a reoccurring weekend breakfast. I’m always a fan of eggs and tomatoes in one form or another.